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Leading into last weekend – it is lunch time Friday and we are on the road – a 2 hour road trip for a weekend adventure – our long anticipated weekend away at “Moogerah Dam” spending two night staying at a beautiful old house based on the banks of the Dam itself – a nicely secluded (as in the last house on a dead end road with a lot of farm land between us and the closest neighbour) – sharing the time with some great friends.

On the evening of our arrival, we were treated to a stunning sunset across the water.

And the sunrise the next morning was nearly as stunning

The main reason photographers usually go to Moogerah with a camera is for the astro photography – but unfortunately the clouds that gave the spectacular sunrise/sunsets were a start of more to come and we did not get much clear sky

I did manage a semi “Milky Way” shot quickly between some thicker cloud bands going through – but certainly not we were there for

We did a little bit of “fire spinning” by the Lake side.

And there were LOTS of birds to photograph

A quick photo of the house as we were packing to leave (phone photo) – pity it was a afterthought as with the different light over the weekend could of got some nice photos of it.

In summary a great weekend – we photographed, fished, and did a little bit of boating – there was a bonfire – we will be back.

A link to their website is here for anybody looking to go there – there is also caravan and tent accommodation available separately but you do not get this fabulous seclusion.

If you want to see even more photos from the weekend – I will have these and more on my facebook photography page soon

Just a few of our local visitors – these birds have been visiting for a number of years – and can be here on a daily basis – or sometimes months between visits – we have a Bird Feeder – which I put seed out on a random basis – so the Birds do not get dependent on it.

These 3 Cockatoos lined up – asking when Breakfast is being served

This one thought I was taking too long to acknowledge their request and was threatening destruction on part of the balcony if I did not comply

And then having a bit of a preen

Meet Psycho – one of our more regular visitors – he looks innocent enough – but will quickly throw a wing up to keep anybody else from sharing the seed with him as per this video

After visiting Kangaroo Island last September – we knew it would not be long before we were back.

On Saturday the 11th of May – the alarm went off at 4.15 – time to get up get dressed for the 4.30 Taxi to Brisbane airport.

A bit cool but not too bad and before long we were on the plane.

A glorious view out the window on the flight to Adelaide.

Uneventful and fast trip – possibility because I snoozed a fair portion of it.

Into Adelaide – and on time for our transfer with Rex airlines across to Kangaroo Island

The planes are getting smaller ( photo by my partner Tammy)

Weather forecast not great – but luckily not raining as we got on the plane and patches of Blue sky on our flight across.

Landing safely at Kingscote Airport – time to pick up the Hire Car – went with Budget – unhelpful and unfriendly staff – would not use them again.

Off to Kingscote for some supplies from the IGA to get us through the few days we will be on the Island, and lunch at the Aurora Hotel ( fabulous meal) – watching what we thought was a lonely New Zealand Fur Seal playing in the bay out the front while we ate.

After lunch we went for a walk with camera – here we found the Seal was not alone.

They were quite placid – we still did exercise caution when we were close to them – and this is as close as we got – (my partner Tammy getting one of her shots)

Lots of birds at Kingscote too

After this we headed off to our accommodation – and that will be a post for another day.

We recently had the opportunity to spend 3 nights staying at Kangaroo Island – off the southern coast of Australia – one of the highlights of the visit was going to the Raptor Domain Bird Show.

They had a variety of Birds of Prey from small Falcons up to the very large Wedge Tail Eagle.

One of my favourites was the White Bellied Sea Eagle – it was taken out of its nest as a baby and raised in a shed – when it was rescued it did not know how to fly properly or eat fish. They have put a lot of work into correcting this – but sadly will never be able to be released into the wild.

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Abbey the Barking Owl was also a favourite

The Star of the show was the Wedge Tail Eagle

A more complete collection of the bird photos can be found on my facebook page here

We had a great time on the island – and I will post more photos in the future .

If you want to see more of the wonderful nature of Kangaroo Island there is nice facebook page here that we found useful when planning our trip there.

I have not posed here in a very long time – I am still taking photos – but have been lazy and just putting them on my facebook page.

Photography is not my only hobby – I also play with little toy soldiers – more correctly I paint wargame figures – I rarely actually play the games – as I just did not have the time – working on changing that – after I acquired some vintage warhammer Orc and Goblin figures – talking to a few friends – looks like it is time to play some vintage warhammer – thinking 4/5th edition (it is currently up to 8th edition).

So going through what I already own – I found these painted figures that have not seen the light of day for a few years.

They were based for a skirmish fantasy game Songs of Blades and Heroes – so now thinking do I rebase them or not for old style Warhammer.

First up is some Warhammer “Big Uns”

The “Big Un” musician

A Orc Shaman – and two Black Orcs ( one of them is probably to modern for the Army look I m after).

And amongst the Orcs I found this Warhammer High Elf Mage – notsure what his future is – maybe sell to get more Orcs.